The Metal Circle
by Waterfall
Summary: A coincidental meeting between Joyce and Magneto has unexpected results.


**A/N:** Another fic from Twisting the Hellmouths's Fic For All challenge. Some knowledge of Magneto's past is needed to understand this, I think – but I'm not sure. Have a go at it anyway :)  
Written in two hours… I was _supposed _to be studying. I guess I'm just glad that my inspiration is back!  
**Disclaimer: **Marvel owns Magneto (insofar as anyone can actually _own_ him), and all things Buffy-ish belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy  
**Pairing:** #915 in the FFA – Joyce Summers/Magneto  
**Setting: **Anytime in the X-Men universe, and before Season 5 in the Buffyverse  
**Summary: **A coincidental meeting between Joyce and Magneto has unexpected results.

**The Metal Circle  
****by Waterfall**

Joyce has always heard that New York is a dangerous place, but she doesn't think that those who warned her had thought of anything like_this_! Metal objects are flying through the air, and she ducks as a bicycle soars overhead. All around her people are screaming and running, trying to escape. Shaking, she pulls a can of mace and a wooden stake from her purse – she is never without them nowadays – and moves towards the attacker.

He calls himself Magneto, Master of Magnetism, and that is certainly true. They say that he's a mutant, but to Joyce he's just another demon like the ones her daughter fights every day, one of many that wants to destroy the world and its humanity. But Buffy isn't here now, and _someone's _got to stop him. His back is towards her and he is floating centimetres from the ground, intent on the destruction before him.

She manages to come quite close to him before he turns and she freezes; mace in one hand and stake in the other.  
"What have we here?" he muses, gliding closer. A metal bar appears as if out of nowhere and she steps towards him to avoid it, brandishing her weapons. "A human armed with a stick thinks to stand in my way?"  
"I want you to stop this!" she demands, her voice shaking as much as her hands. He just laughs and lands in front of her, without lessening the chaos around them. Before she has a chance to reconsider she sprays the mace into his face just as he is about to speak again. He doubles over, coughing, and still without thinking she plunges the stake towards his neck.

Before the movement is finished her hand is caught – literally – in a grip of steel, and she is forced back. The weapons fall from her hands as they are tied to her body with the metal bar she noticed earlier.  
"Foolish woman!"  
He looks at her with eyes brimming with anger and tears, and she straightens defiantly, although her shaking increases. It's all over, she realises fearfully. She'll never see her daughter again…

…but nothing happens. He is just looking at her, and the anger leaks from his eyes to be replaced with something like sadness. She daren't say a word, and for a while they stand in silence. The flying metal objects fall to rest, and the only sounds that can be heard are screams and weeping. At last he speaks, although it is more like a whisper.  
"You remind me… I'd almost forgotten." He touches her hair and studies her face intently. "You don't look like her, but that fire… she had that."

She's still too frightened to speak and he pulls his hand away forcefully.  
"For God's sake, don't look at me like that!"  
The metal bar that binds her loosens and moves away, freeing her. He looks at her again, and she finally regains her voice.  
"What do you want from me?"  
His face hardens again and he moves close to her, until their bodies are almost touching and she has to fight not to take a step back.  
"She ran away from me when she learned what I was. She was my wife, full of strength and fire, and she left me."  
With those words the chaos is back. Pieces of metal whirl around them, some close enough to cut or pierce her skin if he wants them to. The look in his eyes challenges her, and she realises that he is waiting for her reaction. Waiting to see if she will run away like his wife did… or if she will stay.  
"Please stop this," she begs him. Her voice is calmer than it should be, and she meets his stare without flinching. "Please."

Once again she acts without giving herself time to think, and touches his arm. He starts as if she has struck him, but doesn't speak. Bolder now, she continues.  
"I won't run away; I've seen stranger things than this. But you're hurting people… please stop."  
The metal whirls faster, closer, and she gasps in fear. Somewhere close by a person starts screaming. His hands close painfully around her shoulders but his voice is soft, almost uncertain.  
"If you were my wife you would run. You can't possibly understand…"  
"Yes, I can," she blurts out. For a moment he seems angered by the interruption, and she forges on. "My daughter, she isn't… she's different. Not like other people. Faster, stronger – she has powers and responsibilities that…" She shakes her head, knows that she's told him too much already. "It doesn't really matter. At first I was afraid of her, but only for a little while. Now I'm just afraid _for _her."

He falls silent again, and the metal tornado slows and stops completely. In the distance she can hear sirens and a jet plane heading towards them. He hears it too and looks up, suddenly alert. The metal falls to the ground as he lets her go and takes a step back.  
"A daughter," he whispers. His hand brushes her cheek, but his eyes are looking into the past. "I had a daughter once."  
With those words he lifts from the ground, bowing to her as he flies away. Joyce is left standing in a circle of metal debris, surrounded by injured and frightened people. She dimly wonders what the uniformed people stepping out of the jet plane will think of it all.


End file.
